Reading Untamed
by ShadowOfTheDay818
Summary: Takes place after Marked. Stark and Jack have recently joined the Tulsa House of Night. Together with them, the gang will read the House of Night series starting with Untamed. Will they be able to change the future?
1. Chapter 1

**Reading Untamed**

Summary:

Takes place after Marked. Stark and Jack have recently joined the Tulsa House of Night. Together with them, the gang will read the House of Night series starting with Untamed. Will they be able to change the future?

**Disclaimer: I do not own the House of Night series or any of it's characters!**

**

* * *

**It was just a Saturday morning. Zoey and Stevie Rae were just leaving their room when they found a note in front of the door.

_Go to Aphrodite's room immediately. It's really important!_

The two girls shared a look and started walking towards Aphrodite's room, muttering something that didn't sound happy at all.

When they entered the room, Shaunee, Erin, Damien, Aphrodite and the two new kids (Stark and Jack) were already there. Aphrodite looked like she actually wanted to kill herself.

"What are you all doing in my room, nerd herd?" she sneered. They all shrugged and showed eachother their notes. The notes all said the same. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and Aphrodite opened the door. There was nobody standing there, but something was lying on the floor.

"Why did someone give me a bunch of books?" Nobody said something, cause nobody knew the answer. There was also a note with the books. Aphrodite took it and started reading:

_Here are the books that will change the future forever. Nobody can leave this room before you end the first book, which is called Untamed. The others are: Hunted, Tempted and Burned. I know you will all be confused when you start reading, but it will all become clear. _

They were curious and decided to read the first book.

Chapter one (Zoey reads)

**The caw! Caw! Cawing! of one stupid crow kept me up all night. (Well, more accurately, all day – 'cause you know, I'm a vampire fledging and we have that whole issue of day and night being turned around.) Anyway, I got zero sleep last night/day. But my crappy nonsleep is currently the easiest thing to deal with since life really sucks when your friends are pissed at you. I should know. I'm Zoey Redbird,**

Everyone turned and stared at Zoey while she groaned and put her head between her hands. Why does it always have to be her?

"Why me? And why are you all pissed at me?" she asked looking very comfortable.

"I'm sure they will tell us in the book." Damien said quietly, but everybody still heard him.

**-currently the undisputed Queen of Making My Friends Pissed Land.**

Aphrodite sighed and muttered something that sounded like "I know how you feel."

**Persephone, the big sorrel mare who I could consider mine for as long as I lived at the House of Night, craned her head around and nuzzled my cheek. I kissed her soft muzzle and went back to brushing her sleek neck. **G**rooming Persephone always helped me  
think and made me feel better. And I definitely needed help with both of those things.**

"**Okay, so, I've managed to avoid the Big Confrontation for two days, but that can't continue," I told the mare. "Yes, I know they're in the cafeteria right now, eating dinner while they hang out together being all buddy-buddy and totally leaving me out."**

"Okay… that sounds really unlike us" Shaunee started.

"So you must have done something very bad." Erin finished.

Zoey just shrugged and started reading again.

**Persephone snorted and went back to munching hay. **

"**Yeah, I think they're being jerks, too. Sure, I did lie to them, but it was mostly by omission. And, yeah, I kept some stuff from them. Mostly for their own good." I sighed. Well, the stuff about Stevie Rae being undead was for their own good. The stuff about  
me having a thing with Loren Blake—Vampyre Poet Laureate and professor at the House of Night—well, that was more for my own good**

"I'm being undead? What does that even mean?" Stevie Rae asked us but she already knew none of her friends could answer that.

"And what's that stuff about Loren Blake?" For once, Aphrodite sounded normal and not bitchy.

'I don't know, It don't even like him. Sure, he's hot but okay…"

Stark and Jack were really quiet and didn't really know what to say.

"**But still." Persephone flicked an ear back to listen to me. "They're being really judgmental."**

**Persephone snorted again. I sighed again. Crap. I couldn't avoid them any longer.**

**After giving the sweet mare one last pat, I walked slowly out of her stall to the tack room and put up the array of currycombs and mane/tail brushes I'd been using on her for the past hour. I breathed deeply of the leather and horse smell, letting the soothing mixture ease my nerves. Catching my reflection in the smooth glass window of the tack room, I automatically ran my fingers through my dark hair, trying to make it look not so bedheady. I'd been Marked as a fledgling vampyre and moved to the House of Night for just over two months, but already my hair was noticeably thicker and longer. And supergood hair was only one of the many changes taking place with me. Some of them were invisible—like the fact that I had an affinity for all five of the elements. Some  
of them were very much visible—like the unique tattoos that framed my face in intricate, exotic swirls and then, unlike any other fledgling or adult vampyre, the sapphire design spread down my neck and shoulders, along my spine, and most recently, had moved around my waist, a little fact no one but my cat, Nala, our goddess Nyx, and I knew.**

"Wow, you have a lot of tattoos." Stark said with a cocky smile. Zoey didn't say anything. At the moment, she only had the one that framed her face and spread down on her neck and shoulders.

**Like who could I show?**

"**Well, yesterday you had not one, but three boyfriends,"**

"Three Boyfriends?" They all screamed together.

**I told the me with the dark eyes and cynical half smile that was reflected in the glass. "But you fixed that, didn't you? Today not only do you have zero boyfriends, but no one will ever trust you again for at least, I dunno, a gazillion years or so." Well, except Aphrodite, who totally freaked and took off two days ago because she might have suddenly been turned back into a human, and Stevie Rae, who was chasing said freaked re-humaned Aphrodite because she might have caused the fledgling-to-human issue when I cast a circle and turned her from creepy undead dead kid to odd-red-tattooed-vampyre-but-herself-again kid.**

"We're friends?" Everyone, but especially Aphrodite was surprised about that.

"red-tattooed-vampire? Does that mean I made the change?" Stevie Rae looked worried around the circle.

"**Either way," I told myself aloud, "you have managed to mess up just about everyone who has touched your life. Well done, you!"**

**My lip had actually started to quiver and I felt the sting of tears in my eyes. No. Bawling my eyes red wouldn't do any good. I mean, seriously, if it did, then my friends and I would have kissed (well, not literally) and made up days ago. I was just going to have to face them and start trying to make things right.**

**The late December night was cool and a little misty. The gaslights lining the sidewalk that stretched from the stable and field house area of the school to the main building flickered with little haloes of yellow light, looking beautiful and old-worldly. Actually, the whole campus of the House of Night was gorgeous, and always made me think of something that belonged in an Arthurian legend more than in the twenty-first century. I love it here, I reminded myself. It's home.**

They all smiled. Yes, it felt like home to all of them.

**It's where I belong. I'll make it right with my friends, and everything will be okay then.**

**I was chewing my lip and worrying about just exactly how I was going to make it right with my friends when my mental stressing was interrupted by a weird flapping noise that filled the air around me. Something about the sound sent a chill down my spine. I looked up. There was nothing above me but darkness and sky and the winter-bare limbs of the huge oaks that lined the sidewalk. I shivered, having a walking-over-my-grave moment as the night went from soft and misty to dark and malevolent.**

**Hang on—dark and malevolent? Well, that's just silly! What I had heard was probably nothing more sinister than the wind rustling through the trees. Jeesh, I was losing it.**

**Shaking my head at myself, I kept walking but had taken only a couple of steps when it happened again. The weird flapping above me actually caused the air, which seemed ten degrees colder, to flutter wildly against my skin.**

"That must be really scare." Damien said and he shivered.

"Yeah, maybe it had something to do with the crow you heard before." Jack said and he looked really nervous.

**I automatically flailed a hand up, imagining bats and spiders and all sorts of creepy things.**

**My fingers passed through nothingness, but it was frigid nothingness, and an icy pain sliced through my hand. Completely freaked out, I yelped and hugged my hand to my chest. For a moment I didn't know what to do, and my body was numb with fear. The flapping was getting louder and the cold more intense when I finally managed to move. Ducking my head, I did the only thing I could think to do. I ran for the nearest door to the school.**

"Isn't there anyone else outside besides you?" Stark asked and he raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I mentioned that it was during lunchtime, so everybody was probably eating." Zoey's words sounded logical and he nodded. Zoey already liked the boy. He was also very cute.

**After slipping inside, I slammed the thick wooden door behind me and, panting for breath, turned to peer through the little arched window in the center of it. The night shifted and swam before my eyes, like black paint poured down a dark page. Still,  
the terrible feeling of icy fear lingered within me. What was going on? Almost without realizing what I was doing, I whispered, "Fire, come to me. I need your warmth."**

**Instantly the element responded, filling the air around me with the soothing heat of a hearth fire. Still staring out the little window, I pressed my palms against the rough wood of the door. "Out there," I murmured. "Send your heat out there, too." With a whoosh of warmth, the element moved from me, through the door, and poured into the night. There was a hissing sound, like steam rising from dry ice. The mist roiled, thick and soupy, giving me a sense of dizzy vertigo that made me a little nauseated, and the strange darkness began to evaporate. Then the heat completely beat away the chill, and as suddenly as it had begun, the night was once again quiet and familiar.**

**What had just happened?**

**My stinging hand drew my attention from the window. I looked down. Across the back of my hand there were red welts, as though something with claws, or talons, had scraped across my flesh. I rubbed at the angry-looking marks, which stung like a curling iron burn.**

"Eew, that sounds nasty." Aphrodite said.

"And also very painful," Stevie Rae added.

**Then the feeling hit me strong, hard, overwhelming—and I knew with my Goddess-given sixth sense that I shouldn't be here by myself. The coldness that had tainted the night—the ghostly something that had chased me inside and welted my hand—filled me with a terrible foreboding and for the first time in a long time, I was truly and utterly afraid. Not for my friends. Not for my grandma or my human ex-boyfriend, or even for my estranged mom.**

Zoey whispered only one word. "Heath." Stark cocked one eyebrow, but didn't ask anything. He didn't want to sound to annoying or curious.

**I was afraid for myself. I didn't just want the company of my friends; I needed them.**

**Still rubbing my hand, I made my legs move and knew beyond any doubt that I would rather face the hurt and disappointment of my friends than whatever dark thing might be waiting for me in the concealing night.**

"I'm pretty sure we will forgive you in the book." Damien whispered. The twins nodded and Zoey flashed them a smile. They would definitely learn something from this book.

Zoey knew one thing: She never wanted to lose her friends.

**I hovered for a second just outside the open doors to the busy "dining hall" (a.k.a. school cafeteria) watching the other kids talk easily and happily together, and I was almost overwhelmed with the sudden wish that I could be just another fledging—that I didn't have any extraordinary abilities or the responsibilities that went along with those abilities. For a second I wanted to be normal so bad that it was hard for me to breathe.**

**Then I felt the soft brush of wind against my skin that seemed warmed by the heat of an invisible flame. I caught a whiff of the ocean, even though there is definitely no ocean near Tulsa, Oklahoma. I heard birdsong and smelled new-cut grass. And my spirit  
quivered with silent joy within me as it acknowledged my powerful Goddess-given gifts of an affinity for each of the five elements: air, fire, water, earth, and spirit.**

**I wasn't normal. I wasn't like anyone else, fledgling or vampyre, and it was wrong of me to wish otherwise. And part of my not-normal-ness was telling me that I had to go in there and try to make peace with my friends. I straightened my spine and looked around the room with eyes that were clear of self-pity, and easily found my special group sitting at our booth.**

"Here we go," Zoey muttered so low that nobody could hear it. Not even Stevie Rae, who was sitting next to her.

**I drew a deep breath and then made my way quickly across the cafeteria, giving a little nod or small smile to the kids who said hi to me. I noticed that everyone seemed to be reacting to me with their usual mix of respect and awe, which meant that my friends hadn't been talking crap about me to the masses. It also meant that Neferet hadn't launched an all-out, open attack against me. Yet.**

"Neferet? What does she have to do with this?" Zoey asked.

"I knew it." Aphrodite almost yelled it. Everyone turned to look at her with confusion.

"Neferet is evil. She's just really bad news."

Zoey sighed. She saw Neferet as a mother.

**I grabbed a quick salad and a brown pop. Then, holding on to my tray with such abnormal tightness that it was turning my fingers white, I marched straight to our booth and took my usual seat beside Damien.**

**When I sat down, no one looked at me, but their easy chatter instantly died, which is something I totally hate. I mean, what's more awful than walking up to a group of your supposed-to-be friends and having them all shut up so that you knew for sure they were all talking about you? Ugh.**

"**Hi," I said instead of running away or bursting into tears like I wanted to.**

**No one said anything.**

"**So, what's up?" I directed the question at Damien, knowing that my gay friend was naturally the weakest link in the don't-talk-to-Zoey chain.**

**Sadly, it was the Twins who answered me and not gay, and therefore more sensitive and polite, Damien.**

"**Not shit, right, Twin?" said Shaunee.**

"**That's right, Twin, not shit. 'Cause we can't be trusted to know shit," Erin said. "Twin, did you know we're totally untrustworthy?"**

"**Not until recently I didn't, Twin. You?" Shaunee said.**

"**Didn't know till recently either," Erin finished.**

"Shit, we really sound…."

"…mean." Shaunee said when Erin didn't end her sentence. They sounded guilty, but they didn't even do something. Not in reality, anyway.

**Okay, the Twins aren't really twins. Shaunee Cole is a caramel-colored Jamaican-American who grew up on the East Coast. Erin Bates is a gorgeous blonde who was born in Tulsa. The two met after being Marked and moving to the House of Night on the  
same day. They clicked instantly—it's like genetics and geography never existed. They literally finish each other's sentences. And at that moment they were glaring at me with twin looks of angry suspicion.**

**God, they made me tired.**

Aphrodite snickered while the twins glared at Zoey.

"Sorry guys." She said with a shrug.

**They also made me mad. Yes, I'd kept secrets from them. Yes, I'd lied to them. But I'd had to. Well, mostly I'd had to. And their twin holier-than-thou crap was getting on my last nerve.**

"**Thank you for that lovely commentary. And now I'll try asking someone who doesn't have to answer in a stereo version of hateful Gossip Girl Blair." I turned my attention away from them and looked directly at Damien, even though I could hear the Twins sucking air and getting ready to say something I was hoping they would one day regret. "So, I guess what I really wanted to ask when I said 'what's up' is if you've noticed any scary, ghostlike, flappy weirdness outside lately. Have you?"**

**Damien's a tall, really cute guy with excellent bone structure whose brown eyes were usually warm and expressive but were, at this moment, wary and more than a little cold. "A flappy ghost thing?" he said. "Sorry, I have no clue what you're talking about."**

Damien looked at Zoey with a worried gleam in his eyes, but she just continued reading, so it would hurt less.

**My heart squeezed at the strangerlike tone of his voice, but I told myself that at least he'd answered my question. "On the way here from the stables, something kinda attacked me. I couldn't really see anything, but it was cold and it put a big welt on my hand." I lifted my hand to show him—and there was no welt there anymore.**

"Shit. You guys won't believe me." Zoey muttered and they felt guilty, even when they knew that something like that would never happen in reality. No, they wouldn't let that happen.

**Great.**

"Sarcasm- alert." Stark chuckled, but he was the only one who found it funny.

**Shaunee and Erin snorted together. Damien just looked really, really sad. I was opening my mouth to explain that there had been a welt there just a few minutes ago, when Jack rushed up.**

Jack raised his eyebrow, but everybody could see that he was really happy to be a part of their group. And they could also see that there was some chemistry between Damien and him.

"**Oh, hi! I'm so sorry I'm late but when I put on my shirt I found a ginormic stain right on the front of it. Can you believe that?" Jack said as he hurried up with his tray of food and sat at his place beside Damien.**

"**A stain? It's not on that lovely blue long-sleeved Armani I got you for Christmas, is it?" Damien said, scooting over to make room for his boyfriend.**

Damien and Jack both blushed and tried to hide their pink cheeks. The twins were laughing while Aphrodite just looked bored.

"**Ohmigod, no! I'd never spill anything on that one. I just love it and—" His words came to a staggering halt when his eyes flitted from Damien to me. He gulped. "Oh, uh. Hi, Zoey."**

"**Hi, Jack," I said, smiling at him. Jack and Damien are together. Hello. They're gay. My friends and I, along with anyone who's not narrow-minded and utterly judgmental, are cool with that.**

"**I didn't expect to see you," Jack babbled. "I thought you were still . . . uh . . . well . . ." He trailed off, looking uncomfortable and blushing a pretty pink.**

"**You thought I was still hiding in my room?" I supplied for him.**

**He nodded.**

"**No." I said firmly, "I'm done doing that."**

"**Well, la-te-da," Erin began, but before Shaunee could do her usual chime-in act, a blatantly sexy laugh coming from the door behind us made everyone turn and gawk.**

"That's probably me." Aphrodite said self-assured and she looked a lot more interested now she would be in the story.

**Aphrodite twitched into the room, laughing while she batted her eyes at Darius, one of the youngest and hottest of the Sons of Erebus Warriors who protected the House of Night, and did an excellent hair flip. The girl always had been good at multitasking,  
but I was totally shocked at how nonchalant and utterly cool and collected she looked. Only two days ago she'd been almost dead and then utterly freaked because the sapphire-colored outline of a crescent moon—which appeared on all fledglings' foreheads,  
Marking them as having begun the Change that would either end in becoming a vampyre or in becoming dead—had disappeared from her face.**

**Which meant she had somehow turned back into a human.**

"What? I turn into a _human_?" She snapped and they all shared a look. Sounds like karma.

"Who wants to read now?" Zoey asked while Aphrodite tried to stay calm.

"I want to." Damien said and Zoey handed him the book.

* * *

**A/N: So that was the first chapter. I hope you liked it. I know that my English isn't really good, but I'm working on it. Please review if you want me to update. **

**I know that Stark only comes in the fourth book, but I wanted him to be there to read the books. Like I said, they will change the future.**

**And I didn't start with Marked or Betrayed, because I don't have those books in English. (Only in Dutch)**

**So I also chose Untamed, because Stark appears in it.**

**ShadowOfTheDay818**


	2. Chapter 2

**Reading Untamed**

Summary: 

Takes place after Marked. Stark and Jack have recently joined the Tulsa House of Night. Together with them, the gang will read the House of Night series starting with Untamed.

**Disclaimer: I do not own House of Night or any of it's characters.**

* * *

Chapter two (Damien reads)

**Okay, I thought she'd turned back into a human, but even from where I was sitting I could see that Aphrodite's Mark had returned.**

Everyone in the room was thinking the same: How is all of that possible? They had never heard of something similar to this.

**Her cold blue eyes swept the cafeteria as she gave the watching kids a stuck-up sneer before turning her attention back to Darius and letting her hand linger on the big warrior's chest.**

The twins looked like they wanted to barf and Aphrodite actually seemed interested. Who was this Darius they were talking about?

"**It was ever so sweet of you to walk me to the dining hall. You're right. It shouldn't have taken two days to cut my vacation short. With all the craziness going on around here, it's best to stay on campus where we can be protected. And since you say you'll be stationed at the door of our dorm, that is definitely the most safe and attractive place to be."**

"Can I just say Ugh?" Shaunee said and made a weird gagging noise.

"Yeah, that was definitely disturbing." Erin added and she shared a look with her _twin_.

Aphrodite just rolled her eyes and looked very pleased with herself.

**She practically purred at him. Jeesh, she was a stank. Had I not been so surprised to see her, I would have made appropriate gagging noises. Loud, obvious ones. "And I must return to my posting there. Good night, my lady," Darius said. He gave her a very sharp bow, which made him look like one of those romantic, handsome knights, minus the horse and the shining armor, from back in the day.**

"Handsome? Don't you already have enough boyfriends?" Aphrodite asked, while she raised one eyebrow.

Zoey just shrugged and acted like she didn't hear the comment.

"**It's a pleasure to serve you." He smiled at Aphrodite one more time before turning neatly on his heel and leaving the cafeteria. "And I'll just bet it would be a pleasure to service you."Aphrodite said in her nastiest voice as soon as he was out of earshot.**

Stark snorted while the twins and Damien started snickering.

**Then she turned around to face the gawking, silent room. She lifted one perfectly waxed brow and gave everyone her patented Aphrodite sneer. "What? You look like you've never seen gorgeous before. Hell, I was only gone a couple of days. Your short-term memory should be better than that. Remember me? I'm the gorgeous bitch you all love to hate."**

"I must give her some credit for that speech," Erin muttered and Shaunee just nodded.

They were all slightly impressed by that typical Aphrodite-speech.

**When no one said anything, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, whatever." She twitched to the salad bar and began to fill her plate as the noise dam finally broke and all the kids made rude sounds and turned back to their food dismissively. To the uninformed, I'm sure Aphrodite looked like her usual haughty self. But I could see how nervous and tense she actually was.**

"Wow, you are observing her a lot." Stevie Rae said, but she didn't smile. Something felt wrong about this scene. Why wasn't she with her friends? Did something bad happen?

**Hell, I understood exactly how she felt – I'd just walked through the gauntlet myself. Actually, I was currently struck in the middle of it along with her. "I thought she'd become human again." Damien said under breath to all of us. "But her Mark's back."**

"**Nyx's ways are mysterious," I said, trying to sound wise and High Priestess in Training-ish.**

"I don't really think that's a word," Damien said, but he was ignored…yet again.

"**I'm thinking Nyx's ways are another M-word, Twin." Erin said. "Can you guess it?"**

"**Majorly messed up?" Shaunee said.**

"**Exactly," Erin said.**

"**That's three words," Damien said.**

"**Oh, don't be such a schoolteacher," Shaunee told him. "Plus the point is Aphrodite is a hag, and we were kinda hoping Nyx dumped her when that Mark of hers disappeared.**

Aphrodite glared at the twins, but she felt hurt and offended. The anger started to burn in her. Damien sensed this and started reading again.

"**More than kinda hoping, Twin." Erin said. Everyone stared at Aphrodite. I tried to force salad down my throat. See, here's the deal: Aphrodite used to be the most popular, powerful, bitchy fledging at the House of Nights. Since she'd crossed the High Priestess, Neferet, and been totally ostracized, she had been reduced to simply the most bitchy fledging at the House of Nights. Of course, weirdly ( and typically enough for me), she and I had kinda, sorta, accidently become friends – or at the very least, allies.**

Zoey and Aphrodite looked at eachother and laughed. No way, that would never happen. They are like enemies.

Stevie Rae looked kinda hurt when she heard this. Was she going to be replaced by Aphrodite?

**Not that we wanted the masses to know that. Nevertheless, I'd been worried about her when she disappeared, even though Stevie Rae had chased after her.**

"Don't even think about it, bumpkin." Aphrodite snapped and looked directly at Stevie Rae, who just shrugged and muttered something to low for anyone to hear.

**I hadn't heard from either of them in two days. Naturally, my other friends – namely Damien, Jack, and the Twins – hated her guts.**

Jack smiled when Zoey considered him as one of her friends.

**So to say that they were shocked and not very pleased when Aphrodite walked directly to our booth and sat down beside me was an understatement almost as big as that knight in the **_**Indiana Jones**_** movie saying 'He chose poorly' when the bad guy picked the wrong goblet to drink out of and his body disintegrated. **

"I love that movie!" Jack squealed in a very gay-way which caused everyone to look at him. He blushed and looked very nervous.

"**Staring isn't polite, even when it's at someone as stunningly beautiful as moi,' Aphrodite said before taking a bite of her salad. **

"**What the hell are you doing, Aphrodite?" Erin asked. Aphrodite swallowed and then blinked with fake innocence at Erin. "Eating, moron," she said sweetly.**

"**This is a no-ho zone," Shaunee said, finally recovering her ability to speak. "Yeah, it's posted back here," Erin said, pointing at a pretend sign on the back of their bench.**

"**I hate to repeat a sentiment I've said before, but in this case I'll make an exception. So I again say: Die Dorkamese Twins."**

"Hateful hag," Shaunee muttered under her breath and that caused her Twin to chuckle and trying to hide it with a cough.

"**That's it,' Erin said barely able to keep her voice down. "Twin and I are gonna smack that damn Mark right off your face."**

"**Yeah, maybe it'll stay off this time," Shaunee said.**

"**Stop it," I said. When the Twins turned slant-eyed looks of pissed-off-ness on me, I felt my stomach clench. Did they really hate me so much as they looked like they did?**

"We could never hate you, Z." Damien whispered and he smiled gently at Zoey.

"Yeah, Z, you know we love you," Stevie Rae said and the Twins nodded eagerly.

Zoey just smiled sadly and thanked the gods that she had such an amazing friends. Oh, how she wished she would never lose them.

**It made my heart hurt to think about it, but I lifted my chin and stared right back at them. If I completed the Change to vampyre, I would someday be their High Priestess, and that meant they had damn well better listen to me. "We've already been through this. Aphrodite is part of the Dark Daughters now. She's also part of our circle, being as she has an affinity for the element earth.**

Everyone was silent when they tried to process what they just heard. Aphrodite became a Dark Daughter again and she has an affinity for the element earth?

"Wow…" Jack said when no one dared to speak.

"Wait a second, you said "our circle". Does that mean that we have an affinity for the elements too?" Damien asked softly.

"I have no idea," Zoey replied.

**I hesitated, wondering if she still had that affinity, or had she lost it when she'd gone from fledging to human and then, apparently, back to fledging again, but that was just too confusing, so I hurried on. "You guys know you agreed to accept her in each position, **_**without**_** name-calling and hateful remarks."**

The Twins pouted while Aphrodite just looked bored again. Stevie Rae was still wondering where she'd fit in, in all of this.

**The Twins didn't say anything, but Damien's voice, sounding uncharacteristically flat and emotionless, came from the other side of me. "We agreed to that, but we didn't agree to be friends with her."**

"**I didn't say I wanted to be your friend," Aphrodite said.**

"**Ditto, bitch!" the Twins said together. "Whatever," Aphrodite said, moving like she was going to pick up her tray and leave.**

The Twins and Aphrodite glared at eachother. No, they would never be friends. Not in a million year.

**I'd opened my mouth to tell Aphrodite to sit down and the Twins to shut up when a bizarre noise echoed down the hall and through the open doors to the cafeteria. "What the-?" I began, but didn't get the whole question out before at least a dozen cats streaked into the cafeteria, hissing and spitting like crazy.**

"What the hell?" Zoey said.

"Something like that never happened before." Damien said and he looked thoughtful.

"I think I know what's happening," Stark muttered, but he sounded excited.

Everyone looked at him with questions in their eyes, but he just motioned to start reading again.

**Okay, at the House of Nights, cats are everywhere. Literally. They follow us around, sleep with, and in my cat Nala's case, often complain at, the fledging of their choice. In Vamp Soc class, one of the first cool things we learned was that cats had long been familiars of vampyres. This meant that we were all majorly used to having cats everywhere. But I had never seen them act so absolutely insane. The Twins's huge gray tomcat, Beelzebub, jumped right up between them. He was puffed up to twice his already ginormously large size, and he stared back through the open door to the dining hall with amber eyes slit in anger.**

"That's weird," Shaunee said.

"Yeah, he never does something like that," Erin added.

"**Beelzebub, baby, what's wrong?" Erin tried to soothe him. Nala leaped up on my lap. She put her little white-tipped paws on my shoulder and gave a scary, psycho-cat growl as she, too, stared at the door and the chaotic noise still coming from the hall. "Hey," Jack said. "I know what that sound is."**

**And it hit me at the same time. "It's a dog barking," I said.**

"A dog? Since when do they allow dogs here?" Stevie Rae asked.

"Since now, Duchess is mine." Stark said and he grinned. He really loved that dog.

"Duchess? The dog is yours?" Zoey asked surprised.

"Yeah," Stark replied and he flashed her a cocky smile.

**Then something that resembled a large yellow bear lire closely than a dog burst into the cafeteria. The bear-dog was followed by a kid who was followed by several uncharacteristically frazzled- looking professors, including our fencing master, Dragon Lankford, our equestrian instructor, Lenobia, as well as several of the Sons of Erebus Warriors.**

"Okay, I have to admit, that sounded really funny." Aphrodite said with a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Yeah, I would totally want to see that happen," Zoey grinned while the others tried to hide their laughter.

"**Got ya!" the kid yelled once he caught up with the dog and came to a skidding halt not far from us while he swooped down, snagged the barking beast's collar (which I noted was pink leather with silver metallic spikes all around it), and neatly clipped a leash to it. The instant his leash was reattached, the bear stopped barking, plotted its round butt down on the floor, and stared, panting, up at the kid. "Yeah, great. Now you want to act right," I heard him mutter to the obviously grinning canine.**

"Gotta love that dog," Stark muttered and he smiled.

**Even though the barking had stopped, the cats in the cafeteria had definitely not stopped freaking. There was so much hissing around us, it sounded like air escaping from a punctured inner tube.**

"**You see, James, this was what I was trying to explain to you earlier," Dragon Lankford said as he stared, frowning, down at the dog.**

"James?" Zoey questioned and she raised her eyebrow when she saw the irritation in his eyes.

"I hate it when they call me James," Stark said but he didn't answer Zoey's question, neither did he answer their gazes.

"**The animal just won't work at this House of Night."**

"**It's Stark, not James," the kid said. "And like I was trying to explain to you earlier – the dog has to stay with me. It's just the way it is. If you want me – you get her, too."**

**I decided that the new dog kid had an unusual way about him.**

"Dog kid? Damn Z, you really have the weirdest nicknames." Stevie Rae smiled at her friend.

**It wasn't like he was being openly rude or disrespectful to Dragon, but he also wasn't speaking to him with the respect, and sometimes outright fear, with which the vast majority of newly Marked fledglings spoke to vampyres. I checked out the front of his vintage Pink Floyd T-shirt. No class insignia there, so I didn't have a clue what year he was and how long he'd been Marked. "Stark," Lenobia was saying, obviously trying to reason with the kid. **

Stark grinned, he knew that would never work with him.

"**it's just not possible to integrate a dog into this campus. You can see how much he's upsetting the cats."**

"**They'll get used to him. They did at the Chicago House of Night. She's usually pretty good about not chasing them around, but that gray cat really did ask for it with that whole hissing and scratching things."**

"**Uh-oh," Damien whispered.**

"Oh no, you didn't!" Erin exclaimed, and she looked really pissed.

"Oh yes, he did," Shaunee answered her Twin, but she, too, looked very angry.

**I didn't need to look – I could sense the Twins puffing up like blowfish.**

"**My goodness, what is all this noise about?" Neferet swept into the room, looking beautiful and powerful and completely in control. I watched the new kid's eyes widen as he took in her gorgeousness. It was soooo annoying that everybody automatically fell stupid at their first glimpse of our High Priestess and my nemesis, Neferet. **

"Jealous?" Stark asked innocently.

"Ugh, no way. " Zoey said and she felt really embarrassed cause everyone could read about her thoughts.

"**Neferet, I apologize for the disruption." Dragon placed his fist over his heart and bowed respectfully to his High Priestess. "This is my new fledging. He arrived only moments ago."**

"**That explains how the fledgling got here. It does not explain how **_**that**_** got here." Neferet pointed at the panting dog.**

"**She's with me," the kid said. When Neferet turned her moss-colored eyes on him, he mimicked Dragon's salute and bow. When he straightened, I was utterly shocked to see him give Neferet a lopsided grin that looked more than a little cocky.**

Everyone except Stark, rolled their eyes. They only knew him for half an hour and they already noticed that he's way to cocky.

"**She's my version of a cat."**

"**Really?" Neferet lifted one slime auburn brow. "Yet she looks oddly like a bear."**

Stark huffed and ignored the Twins who were snickering.

**Ha! So it wasn't just me being overly descriptive. **

"**Well, Priestess, she's a Lab, but you're not the first person who's said she looks bearlike. Her paws are definitely big enough to be a bear's. Check it out." Disbelieving, I watched as the kid turned his back on Neferet and told the dog, "Gimme five, Duch." The dog obediently lifted a decidedly massive paw and slapped Stark's hand with it.**

"Oooh, your dog sounds so cute," Jack whispered.

**Okay, I had to admit it. It was a cute trick.**

**He returned his attention to Neferet. "But dog or bear, she and I have been together since I was Marked four years ago, so that makes her cat enough for me.**"

"**A Labrador retriever?" Neferet made a show of walking around the dog and studying her. "She's awfully large."**

"**Well, yeah, Duch has always been a big girl, Priestess."**

"**Duch? That's her name?"**

**The kid nodded and grinned, and even though he was a sixth-former, I was again surprised at how easily he spoke to an adult vamp, especially one who was a powerful High Priestess.**

"**It's short for Duchess."**

**Neferet looked from the dog to the kid, and her eyes narrowed. "What is your name, child?"**

"**Stark," he said.**

**I wondered if anyone else saw her jaw clench.**

Stark froze, he knew what was coming now. His past would always keep following him. The guilt and sorrow would never disappear.

"**James Stark?" Neferet said.**

"**A few moments I dropped my first name. It's just Stark." He said.**

**She ignored him and turned to Dragon. "He's the transfer we've been expecting from the Chicago House of Night?"**

"**Yes, Priestess," Dragon said.**

**When Neferet looked back at Stark, I saw her lips tilt up in a calculating smile.**

"Damn girl, you do see everything, don't you?" Shaunee asked.

Zoey shrugged and sighed. The Neferet in the book sounded so different than the Neferet she knew. She was scared that it was true, she was scared that she trusted someone who she shouldn't trust and she was scared that she would get hurt.

"**I've heard quite a bit about you, Stark. You and I shall have to have a long talk very soon." Still studying the fledgling, Neferet spoke to Dragon. "Be sure that Stark has twenty-four-hour access to any and all archery equipment he might like to use.**

Stark's body became rigid. He swore that he would never touch an arrow again after the death of his mentor, yet he couldn't keep that promise. It hurts to much.

**I saw Stark's body do a little jerk. Obviously Neferet saw it, too, because her smile widened and she said, "Of course, news of your talent preceded you here, Stark. You mustn't get out of practice just because you've changed schools.**

_Bitch_, he thought.

**For the first time, Stark looked uneasy. Actually, he looked more than uneasy. At the mention of archery, Stark's expression had transformed from cute and a little sarcastic to cold and almost mean.**

"**I told them when they transferred me, I'd stopped competing." Stark's voice was flat, and his words barely carried the short distance to our table. "Changing schools won't change that."**

"**Competing? You mean that banal archery competition between the different Houses of Night?" Neferet's laughter made my skin crawl. "It matters little to me if you compete or not. Remember, I am Nyx's mouthpiece here, and I say what is important is that you don't waste your Goddess-given talent. You never know when Nyx might call on you – and it won't be for some silly contest."**

**My stomach flipped over. I knew Neferet was talking about the war against the humans.**

"War against the humans?" Stevie Rae exclaimed surprised. She didn't want to accept that Neferet was evil, but when she heard that she knew that Aphrodite was right.

"Typical. She only wants power." Aphrodite hissed.

**But Stark, being completely clueless, just looked relieved at not having to compete again, and his expression shifted back to nonchalance tinged with cockiness.**

"**No problem. I don't mind practicing, Priestess." he said.**

"**Neferet, what is it you wish us to do about the, uh, dog?" Dragon said.**

**Neferet paused just for a moment; then she crouched gracefully in front of the yellow Lab. The dog's big ears pricked forward. She stuck her wet nose up, sniffling, with obvious curiosity at Neferet's offered hand. Across the booth from me, Beelzebub hissed menacingly. Nala growled low in her throat. Neferet's eyes lifted and met mine.**

**I tried to keep my face expressionless, but I don't know how well I succeeded. I hadn't seen Neferet since two days ago when she'd followed me out of the auditorium after she's announced the human-vampyre war she wanted to start in retribution for Loren's murder.**

"WHAT?" the Twins and Damien yelled together. It was needless to say that they were all deeply shocked.

Murder? At the House of Night, the one place they feel at home?

**Naturally, we'd had words. She'd been Loren's lover. So had I, but that had been inconsequential.**

Zoey groaned and put her head between her hands.

**Loren hadn't loved me. Neferet had set up the whole thing between Loren and me, and she knew I knew she had.**

"Why would she do such a terrible thing?" Jack whispered softly.

**She also knew I knew Nyx didn't approve of the things she's been doing. Basically, she'd seriously hurt my heart, and I hated Neferet almost as much as I feared her.**

_I know how you feel, _Aphrodite thought. Yes, she knew better than anyone how big of a bitch their High Priestess could be.

**I hoped none of those things showed on my face as our High Priestess strolled over to our table. With a slight hand gesture, she had Stark and his leashed dog following along behind her. The Twins' cat gave one more hiss before streaking off. I frantically petted Nala, hoping she wouldn't totally lose her mind as the dog got closer. Neferet stropped when she reached our table. Her eyes kipped quickly from me to Aphrodite before they came to a rest on Damien. **

"**I'm glad you're here, Damien. I'd like you to show Stark his room, and help him find his way around campus." **

"**I'd be happy to, Neferet," Damien said quickly, looking all sparkly eyes when Neferet beamed her one-hundred-watt thank-you smile at him.**

"**Dragon will help you with the details," she said. Then her green eyes moved to me. I braced myself. "And Zoey, this is Stark. Stark, this is Zoey Redbird, the leader of our Dark Daughters." **

**He and I nodded at eachother.**

"**Zoey, as you are a High Priestess in Training, I'll leave the issue of Stark's dog with you. I trust that one of the many abilities Nyx has gifted you with will help you acclimate Duchess into our school." Her cold eyes never left mind. They said, **_**Remember that I'm in charge here and you're just a child.**_

Zoey grimaced. Yes, she was just a child. There was nothing she could do to stop Neferet.

"Z, just a child?" Erin snorted unattractively.

"Yeah, that just ain't right. Z is our High Priestess in training." Shaunee smiled warmly.

**I purposefully broke eye contact with her and gave Stark a tight smile. "I'd be happy to help your dog fit in."**

"**Excellent," Neferet cooed. "Oh, and Zoey, Damien, Shaunee, and Erin." She smiled at my friends, and my friends grinned like utter fools right back at her. She completely ignored Aphrodite and Jack.**

Aphrodite just scoffed. She was already used to it.

"**I've called a special Council Meeting for tonight at ten thirty." She glanced at her diamond-studded platinum watch. "It's almost ten o'clock right now, so you need to finish up eating because I expect you Prefects to be there, too."**

"**We will!" They trilled like ridiculous baby birds.**

"**Oh, Neferet, that reminds me," I said, raising my voice so that it carried across the room. "Aphrodite will be joining us. Since she's been gifted by Nyx with an earth affinity, we all agree that she should be on the Prefect Council, too."**

"Neferet won't like that," Aphrodite's voice sounded like she was grinning and she was. She loved irritating people, especially their High Priestess.

**I held my breath, hoping that my friends would go along with this. Thankfully, except for Nala's growl at Duchess, no one said anything.**

"**How could Aphrodite be a Prefect? She is no longer a member of the Dark Daughters." Neferet's voice had gone cold.**

**I radiated innocence. "Did I forget to tell you? I'm so sorry, Neferet. It must have been because of all the horrible things that have happened recently. Aphrodite has rejoined the Dark Daughters. She swore to me, and to Nyx, to uphold our new code of conduct, and I allowed her back in. I mean, I thought that's what you'd want – to have her come back to our Goddess."**

"I hate to say, but that was good." Aphrodite admitted.

"Yeah Z, didn't know you had it in ya," Stevie Rae said.

"**That's right." Aphrodite sounded uncharacteristically subdued. "I've agreed to the new rules. I want to make up for my past mistakes."**

**I knew it would make Neferet look mean and spiteful if she publicly rejected Aphrodite after she's made it obvious that she wanted to change. And Neferet was all about appearance.**

**The High Priestess smiled at the room in general, not looking at Aphrodite or me. "How very generous of our Zoey to accept Aphrodite back into the bosom of the Dark Daughters, especially as she'll be held responsible for Aphrodite's conduct. But then our Zoey seems to be comfortable with a great deal of responsibility. " She did look at me then, and the hatred in her gaze made my breath catch in my throat. "Do be careful that you don't strangle under so much self-inflicted pressure, Zoey dear." Then, as if she'd thrown a switch, her face was filled with sweetness and light again, and she beamed at the new kid. "Welcome to the House of Night, Stark."**

"Wow, she's bipolar." Stark said.

"No, she's just fake." Aphrodite snapped and everyone could clearly see that the anger and hatred in her eyes was meant for Neferet.

"Who wants to read now?" Damien asked quietly after an awkward silence.

Stevie Rae lifted her hand and Damien gave her the book.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so that was the second chapter of Reading Untamed.**

**I have to say, it took me hours to write this.**

**The next chapter will be for next week.**

**It's also my birthday next week. :)**

**Monday, october the 18th.**

**If you have a comment, or you really like this story, then please leave a review.**

**Till' next time,**

**ShadowOfTheDay818**


	3. Chapter 3

**Reading Untamed**

Summary:

Takes place after Marked. Stark and Jack have recently joined the Tulsa House of Night. Together with them, the gang will read the House of Night series starting with Untamed.

**Disclaimer: I do not own House of Night or any of it's characters.**

* * *

Chapter three (Stevie Rae reads)

"**Well, uh, are you hungry?" I asked Stark after Neferet and the rest of the vamps had glided out of the cafeteria.**

"**Yeah, I guess." he said.**

"**If you hurry, you can eat with us, and then Damien can show you to your room before we have to go to the Council Meeting,' I said.**

"**I think your dog is pretty,' Jack said, leaning around Damien to get a better look at Duchess.**

"Thanks," Stark grinned.

"**I mean, she's big, but she's still pretty. She won't bite, will she?"**

"Not if you don't bite her first." Stark said with a cocky smile.

"**Not if you don't bite her first," Stark said.**

"Okay, creepy." Zoey muttered and everyone agreed. Whoever the author was of this book, that person knew a lot about them.

"**Oh, eew," Jack said. "I'd get dog hair in my mouth and that'd be nasty."**

"**Stark, this is Jack. He's Damien's boyfriend."**

Yet again, Damien and Jack both blushed and looked very embarrassed while the others snickered and laughed with their obvious discomfort.

**I decided to get the introductions and the possible **_**Oh, no! He's a fag!**_** Issues out of the way.**

"**Hi," Jack said with a really sweet smile.**

"**Yeah, hi," Stark said. It wasn't a hugely warm hi, but he didn't seem to be giving off any homophobe vibes.**

"**And this is Erin and Shaunee." I pointed to each of them in turn. "They also answer to Twin, which will make sense once you've known them for about two-point-five minutes."**

The Twins grinned and high-fived eachother. Yes, they didn't know why, but they definitely felt like Twins.

"**Hey, there," Shaunee said, giving him a very obvious **_**look**_**.**

"**Ditto," Erin said, giving him an identical **_**look**_**.**

"**This is Aphrodite," I said.**

**His slightly sarcastic smile was back. "So, you're the Goddess of Love. I've heard a lot about you."**

**Aphrodite was looking at Stark with a weird intensity that didn't seem particularly flirtatious, but when he spoke to her, she automatically executed a truly spectacular hair flip and said, "Hi. I like it when I'm recognized."**

The Twins muttered something that sounded like 'Hateful hag', but Aphrodite ignored them.

There was something wrong with the way she was acting towards the new boy in the book. Did she know him or did she see him in one of her visions?

She shrugged and decided to listen if they would explain her behavior in the book.

**His smile widened and got even more sarcastic as he gave her a little laugh. "It'd be hard not to recognize you – the name's pretty obvious."**

**I watched as Aphrodite's intense look instantly dissipated and was replaced by her much more familiar public expression of snobby disdain, but before she could verbally begin to slice up the new kid, Damien spoke. "Stark, I'll show you where the trays and stuff are." He stood up and then stopped in front of Duchess, looking more than a little confused.**

"Oh, please. Duchess is a good girl, you really don't have to worry about her." Stark said and crunched his nose.

"**No worries," Stark said. "She'll stay put. As long as no cats do anything stupid. **

**His gaze had shifted to Nala, who was the only cat left close to Duchess. Nala hadn't started growling again, but she was perched on my lap, staring unblinkingly at the dog, and I could feel the tension in her body.**

"**Nala will be good," I said, hoping she would. I really had no control over my cat. Hell, who actually had control over any cat?**

"No one," they all agreed.

"**All right, then." He gave me a quick nod before telling the dog. "Duchess, stay!" Sure, enough, when he followed Damien over to the main line, Duchess stayed.**

Stark looked really smug and proud when he heard this.

"**You know, dogs are a lot louder than cats," Jack said, studying Duchess like she was a science experiment.**

"**It's all that panting they do," Erin said.**

"**And they're more flatulent than cats, Twin," Shaunee said.**

"**My mom has those ginormic standard poodles, and they are some gaseous creatures."**

"**Okay, well, this has really been **_**not**_** fun," Aphrodite said. "I'm out of here."**

"Well, nobody invited you to sit at our booth anyway, you know," Shaunee said and of course, Erin had to add something.

"Correct, Twin."

"Thanks for pointing that out, freaks," Aphrodite sneered.

Stevie Rae started reading again before anyone could say something else.

"**Don't you want to stay around and make eyes at the new guy?" Shaunee asked in a too-nice voice.**

"I'm always nice," Shaunee said, which caused Aphrodite and Damien to snort.

"**Yeah, and he seemed to like you so much," Erin said sweetly.**

"**I'll leave the new guy to you two, which is only right, being as he likes dogs so much. Zoey, come by my room when you're done with your nerd herd. I want to talk to you about something before the Council Meeting." And with a hair fling and a sneer for the Twins, she left the cafeteria.**

Zoey felt confused. Why would Aphrodite want her to come by her room? It's not like they're actually best friends or whatever in the book.

"**She's not actually as bas ad she pretends to be," I told the Twins. They gave me disbelieving looks and I shrugged. "It's just that she pretends to be bad a lot."**

"Wow, you must be very good at pretending," Erin muttered.

"Cause, it looks very convincing." Shaunee finished.

Aphrodite just rolled her eyes and ignored them.

"**Well, we say **_**please, **_**just**_** please**_**, to her crappy attitude," Erin said.**

"**Aphrodite makes us understand why women have drowned their babies," Shaunee said.**

_Ouch_, everyone besides the Twins and Aphrodite thought.

"**Just try to give Aphrodite a chance," I said. "She's started letting me in past that hateful crap she puts up. You'll see. She can be nice sometimes."**

"Can't wait to see that happen," Stevie Rae whispered. She couldn't help but feel hurt and abandoned when she read Zoey's words.

The Twins just snorted, but decided to stay quiet.

**The Twins didn't say anything for a couple of seconds, then they looked at each other, and at the same time they shook their heads and rolled their eyes. I sighed again.**

"**But on to a much more important topic," Erin said.**

"**Yeah, the new hottie," Shaunee said.**

_Ah, now it gets interesting_, Stark thought. He wondered what they would say about him.

"**Check out his butt," Erin said.**

"**I wish he'd sag them jeans a little so I could get a better look,"**

"Okay, I so didn't want to hear that…" Stark said, looking very disturbed.

Damien, Jack and Zoey just chuckled while the Twins looked very smug.

"**Twin, sagging is seriously lame. It's so clichéd gang-wannabe circa 1990s. Hotties should just say no to it," Erin said.**

"**I'd still like to see his butt, Twin." Shaunee said. Then she glanced over at me and smiled. It was a reserved version of her old, friendly grin, but at least it wasn't the sarcastic wariness she'd been treating me with for the past couple days.**

"**So, what do you think? Is he Christian Bale hot, or just Tobey Maguire hot?"**

"Oh please, Christian Bale has got nothing on me," Stark grinned while Zoey rolled her eyes.

She didn't want to admit it, but she admired his confidence and cockiness.

**I wanted to burst into happy tears and yell, **_**Yea! You guys are starting to talk to me again!**_** Instead I acted like I had some sense and joined the Twins in checking out the new kid. **

**Okay, so they were right. Stark was cute.**

Stark grinned while Zoey put her head between her hands and braced herself for the embarrassment.

**He was medium tall, not quarterback tall like my human ex-boyfriend, Heath, or abnormally gorgeous Superman tall like my fledging-turned)vampyre ex-boyfriend ex-boyfriend.**

The twins, Damien and Stevie Rae gasped while Zoey just looked shocked.

"You and Erik broke up!" Stevie Rae yelled.

"Only in the book," Zoey stated and she shrugged. But she did wonder why they broke up. Was it because that accident that apparently happened with Loren or was it because he couldn't stand the imprint between her and her human ex-boyfriend?

"And Erik changed into a vampyre," Damien said.

"That's so cool!" Jack said and he was truly happy for his roommate.

**But he wasn't short, either. Actually, he was about Damien's height. He was kinda on the tin side, but I could see muscles through his old T-shirt, and his arms were definitely yummy.**

"Ohmygod…." Zoey groaned while her pinks turned pink. She couldn't believe that they were all reading her thoughts about the new guy.

"Thanks," Stark said and he chuckled.

**He had cute, messy guy hair, that sandy color between blond and brown. His face was okay, too, with a strong chin, straight nose, big brown eyes, and nice lips. SO, dissected into separate parts, Stark was an okay-looking kid.**

"Just okay?" Stark asked and he raised his eyebrow.

**As I watched him, I realized that what took him from **_**meh**_** to **_**hot **_**was his intensity and his confidence. He moved like everything he did was deliberate, but that the deliberateness was tinged with sarcasm. It was like he was a part of the world, and at the same time he was flipping it off.**

"Damn Z, you do know how to observe a guy," Stevie Rae said with a smile.

**And, yes, it was weird that I got that about him so quickly.**

"I have to agree with you on that," Aphrodite muttered.

Zoey and Stark just looked at each other. Was it weird that they already felt some sort of connection they had never felt before?

"**I think he's definitely cute," I said.**

"**Ohmigod! I just realized who he is!" Jack gasped.**

The cocky smile disappeared and Stark froze. The memories were all combing back again.

"**Do tell," Shaunee said.**

"**He's James Stark!" Jack said.**

"**No, shit," Erin said, rolling her eyes. "Jacky, we already know that,'**

"**No, no, no. you don't get it. He's the James Stark who is the best archer in the whole world! Don't you remember reading about him online? He kicked butt in the track and field Summer Games this past year. Guys, he competed against grown vamps, actual Sons of Erebus, and he beat them all. He's a star…"**

Stark's breath hitched. He felt so guilty when he heard that they call him now the best archer in the whole world. He didn't deserve that title.

The others just looked shocked at the boy. How couldn't they have seen it?

"**Well, shit! Slap me and call me impaired, Twin. Jacky's right!" Erin said.**

"**I knew his hotness was of major proportions." Shaunee said.**

"**Wow," I said.**

"**Twin, I'm gonna try to like his dog," Erin said.**

"**Or course we are, Twin," Shaunee said.**

**Naturally, all four of us were staring at Stark like total morons when he and Damien came back to the table.**

"**What?" he said, mouth filled with a bite of his sandwich. **

"Eew..nasty," Aphrodite said, but everybody just ignored her.

**He glanced from us down to Duchess. "Did she do something while I was gone? She kinda likes to lick toes."**

"**Eesh, that's-," Erin began, but shut up when Shaunee kicked her under the table. **

"**No, Duchess was a perfect lady whilst you were gone," Shaunee said, giving Stark a very, very friendly grin.**

"**Good," Stark said. When everyone continued to stare at him, he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. As if on cue, Duchess moved so that she could lean against his leg and gaze up at him lovingly. I watched him relax as he automatically reached a hand down and ruffled her ears.**

Stark smiled. He really loved his dog.

"**I remember hearing about you beating all of those vamps in archery!" Jack blurted, then he squeezed his lips shut and blushed bright pink.**

"Oops. Sorry," Jack said and he also blushed in reality.

**Stark didn't look up from his plate. He just shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I'm good at archery."**

"**You're **_**that**_** fledgling?" Damien said, just now getting it. "Good at archery? You're amazing at archery!"**

**Stark looked up. "Whatever. It's just something I've been good at ever since I've been Marked." His eyes went from Damien to me. "Speaking of famous fledglings, I see the rumor about your extra Mark is true."**

"Thanks," Zoey said through gritted teeth. She really hated it to be the center of attention.

"Sorry," Stark shrugged.

"**It's true." I really hated these first meetings. It made me uncomfortable as hell when I met someone and all they could see about me was the über-fledgling and not the real Zoey. Then I got it. What I was feeling was probably a lot like what Stark was feeling.**

_Not really_, Stark thought and he grimaced. Zoey couldn't understand him, she didn't kill her mentor.

**I asked the first thing I could think of to get the subject away from how 'special' he and I both were. "Do you like horses?"**

"Horses?" Aphrodite snickered. Why the hell was she asking him if he liked horses?

"**Horses?" The sarcastic smile was back.**

"**Yeah, well, you seem like you might be an animal lover," I said lamely, jerking my chin in the direction of his dog.**

"**Yeah, I guess I like horses. I like most animals. Except cats."**

"How can you not love cats?" Shaunee asked and she sounded truly shocked.

"Yeah, that's just unnatural," Erin added.

"**Except cats!" Jack squeaked.**

**Stark shrugged again. "I've never really liked them. They're too bitchlike for my tastes."**

**I heard both the Twins snort.**

"**Cats are independent creatures," Damien began. I heard the school teacher lecture tone in his voice and knew my mission to change the subject had been successful. "We all know of course, that they have been worshipped in many ancient cultures of the world, but did you know that they were also-?"**

The twins rolled their eyes. That was so typically Damien, he always knew everything. They were already used to it.

"**Uh, guys, sorry to interrupt," I said, standing and shifting my grip on Nala so that I wouldn't drop her on Duchess's back. "But I gotta go see what Aphrodite wants before the Council Meeting. I'll see you there, 'kay?"**

"**Yeah, okay."**

"**I guess."**

"**Whatever."**

"Wow, that was…friendly." Aphrodite said sarcastic.

**At least I got some sort of good-bye.**

**I gave Stark a friendly smile. "It was nice to meet you. If you need anything for Duchess, just let me know. There's a good Southern Ag not far from here. They carry an extra lot of cat stuff, but I'll bet they have dog stuff, too."**

"**I'll let you know," he said.**

**And then, as Damien resumed his cats-are-wonderful lecture, Stark gave me a quick wink and a nod that clearly said he appreciated my not-so-subtle subject shift. I winked back at him and was halfway to the door that led outside before I realized I was grinning like a fool instead of thinking about the fact that the last time I'd been outside, something had seemed to attack me.**

Everyone shivered when they thought about the scary thing that attacked Zoey. They always felt safe at the House of Night. Would that change?

They all knew one thing: nothing would ever be the same.

**I was standing in front of the big oak door like a Special Needs/Special Services student when a group of Sons of Erebus Warriors poured down the stairway that led to the staff dining room on the second floor.**

"I have to admit, I would totally like it when those Sons of Erebus warriors would join us," Aphrodite said with a wink and she sounded like her total bitchy-self again.

"Of course you would…" Stevie Rae muttered and ignored Aphrodite's glare.

"**Priestess," several of them said when they caught sight of me, and the entire group paused to give me respectful bows with lovely crisp salutes, hands fisted over their muscular chests.**

**I returned the salute nervously.**

"**Priestess, allow me to get the door for you," said one of the older warriors.**

"**Oh, uh, thank you," I said, and then with a sudden inspiration added, "I was wondering if one of you could walk back to the dorm with me and maybe give me a list of the names of the warriors who will be assigned to guard the girls' dorm. I think it would make the guys feel more at home if we knew their names."**

"That's really nice of you," Damien whispered and he beamed at Zoey who was smiling.

"**That's quite considerate of you, my lady," said the older warrior, who was still holding the door for me. "I would be happy to give you a list of the names."**

**I smiled and thanked him. All the way to the girls' dorm, he chatted courteously about the warriors who would be assigned to guard us while I nodded and made the appropriate noises and tried to sneak glances up into the quiet night sky.**

**Nothing flapped or chilled the air, but I couldn't get rid of the frightening feeling that someone or something was watching me.**

Stevie Rae whispered the last words and looked around the circle nervously.

"Who wants to read now?" she asked softly.

"Whatever. I will," Aphrodite said and she took the book.

* * *

**A/N: So that was chapter three!**

**It was a little shorter than last chapter. :)**

**Also thank you to the people who wished me a happy birthday and who left a review!**

**If you like my story and you want me to go on, than please leave a review. (Just click on the Review button ;p )**

**'Till next time...**

**ShadowOfTheDay818**


	4. Chapter 4

**Reading Untamed**

Summary:

Takes place after Marked. Stark and Jack have recently joined the Tulsa House of Night. Together with them, the gang will read the House of Night series starting with Untamed. Will they be able to change the future?

**Disclaimer: I do not own the House of Night series or any of it's characters!**

**

* * *

**Chapter four (Aphrodite reads )

**I had barely touched my door handle when it was pulled open and Aphrodite grabbed my wrist.**

"Not really patient, huh?" Stark asked.

Aphrodite ignored the guy and started reading again.

"**Would you get your butt in here? Shit, you are as slow as a fat kid on crutched, Zoey." **

"And bitchy…" Stevie Rae muttered and blushed when she saw Aphrodite glaring at her.

**She pulled me into the room and slammed the door firmly behind us. "I'm not slow, and you have a whole hell of a lot of explaining to do," I said. "How did you get in here? Where is Stevie Rae? When did your Mark come back? What-?" **

The twins, Damien and Stevie Rae started laughing. They all knew that when Zoey started asking questions, she couldn't stop anymore.

**My tirade of questions was cut off by a loud, insistent tapping that was coming from my window. "First of all, you're a moron. **

Zoey glared at Aphrodite, who just shrugged.

**It's the House of Night, not Tulsa Public Schools. No one locks their doors, so I walked right in your room. Second, Stevie Rae is over there." **

Zoey smiled. She knew that that news would make her happy. She was sure that she missed her best friend a lot in the book.

**Aphrodite breezed past me as she hurried to the window. I just stood there staring at her while she pulled back the thick drapes and started unlatching the heavy leaded-glass windowpane. She gave me an irritated look over her shoulder. "Hello! A little help would be nice."**

**Utterly confused, I joined her at the window. It took both of us to wrench it open. I gazed out from the top floor of the old raw-stone building that looked more like a castle than like a dorm. The late December night was still cold and dreary, and it was now making a halfhearted attempt at rain. I could just see the east wall through the darkness and the shrouding trees. I shivered, but fledglings rarely feel cold, and it wasn't the weather giving me the chills. It was a glimpse of the east wall – a place of power and mayhem. **

Stevie Rae and Zoey both shivered. Especially Zoey, who had seen two dead kids there.

**Beside me, Aphrodite sighed and leaned forward so she could peek out the window and down the wall. "Stop messing around and get in here. You're going to get caught, and more importantly, the humidity is going to frizz my hair."**

"Yeah, 'cause that's so…." Shaunee said

"Important." Her twin muttered, when Shaunee didn't finish her sentence.

"Actually, it is," Aphrodite said and she ignored the irritated noises the twins were making.

**When Stevie Rae's head bobbed up into view, I almost peed on myself.**

"Okay, that's so nasty…"

Everyone agreed with Aphrodite and Zoey decided to hide her blushing face.

Why did the book had to be about her?

"**Hi, Z!" she said cheerfully. "Check out my new ultracool climbing abilities." **

"Climbing?" Jack squealed.

"**Ohmygod. Get. In. Here." Aphrodite reached through the open window, grabbed one of Stevie Rae's hands, and yanked. Like she was a balloon, Stevie Rae popped into the room. Aphrodite quickly closed the window and pulled shut the drapes.**

Aphrodite looked disgusted. She hoped that she didn't become friends with the country-girl.

**I closed my flapping open mouth, but continued to stare as Stevie Rae stood up, brushing off her Roper jeans and retucking her long-sleeved shirt into them.**

"**Stevie Rae," I finally managed. "Did you just crawl up the side of the dorm?" **

"Wow, that's amazing," Damien mumbled and he made a mental note to check in the library if normal vampyres could do something like that.

"**Yep!" She grinned at me, nodding her head so that her short blond curls bounced around her head like a crazed cheerleader's. "Cool, huh?" It's like I'm a part of the stones that the building's made of, and I get all weightless, and, well, here I am." She held out her hands.**

Stevie Rae grinned. She didn't like the fact that her body rejected the change, but the climbing abilities sounded really cool.

"**Like Dracula," I said, and I knew I'd spoken my thought out loud when Stevie Rae frowned and said, "What's like Dracula?"**

"I think she meant that Dracula was able to do that too." Stark said.

**I sat down heavily on the end of my bed. "In the book, Dracula, the old one by Bram Stoker," I explained, "Jonathan Harker says he see Dracula crawling down the side of the castle."**

"**Oh, yeah, I can do that. When you said 'like Dracula,' I thought you meant I looked like Dracula – all kinda creepy and pale with bad hair and those long, nasty fingernails. That's not what you meant, was it?"**

Aphrodite wanted to give a mean remark, but decided that it was way too obvious.

"**No, you look great, actually," I was definitely telling her the truth. Stevie Rae did look great, especially compared to how she'd been looking (and acting and smelling) the past month. She looked like Stevie Rae again, before my best friend's body had rejected the Change and she'd died almost exactly one month ago, and then, somehow, come back from the dead. But she'd been different – broken. Her humanity had been almost completely lost, and she wasn't the only kid it had happened to. **

Everyone looked at Damien, who just shrugged. "I've never heard of anything like that,"

**There was a pack of nasty undead dead kids lurking around the old Prohibition tunnels beneath Tulsa's downtown abandoned depot. Stevie Rae had almost become one of them – mean, hateful, and dangerous. Her Goddess-given affinity with the element earth was all that had helped her retain any bit of herself, but it hadn't been enough. She'd been slipping away. So, with the help of Aphrodite (who had also been given an affinity for the element earth), I'd cast a circle and asked Nyx to heal Stevie Rae.**

"Ohmygod! I have an affinity for earth!" Stevie Rae yelled and she threw her arms around Zoey, who was also smiling. She was really happy for her friend.

Damien and the twins were all curious, of course. Did they also have an affinity for an element?

**And the Goddess had, during that healing process, it seemed like Aphrodite had had to die to save Stevie Rae's humanity. Thankfully, that hadn't been true. Instead of dying, Aphrodite's Mark had disappeared as Stevie Rae's Mark had miraculously been colored in and expanded, showing that she had completed her Change into vampyre. Except to add to the general confusion, Stevie Rae's Mark was bright scarlet – the color of new blood.**

Stevie Rae frowned, but didn't say anything.

"**Uh, hello. Earth to Zoey. Anybody home in their?" Aphrodite's smart-alecky voice cut through my mental babble. "Better check your BFF. She's kinda losing it."**

**I blinked. Even though I'd been gawking at Stevie Rae, I hadn't been **_**seeing**_** her. She was standing in the middle of the room – what used to be **_**our**_** room up until a month ago, when her death had completely and utterly changed everything forever – staring around her with big tear-filled eyes.**

Zoey threw her arms again around Stevie Rae to comfort her. She didn't want to lose her BFF.

"**Oh, honey, I'm sorry." I hurried to her and gave Stevie Rae a hug. "It must be hard for you to be back here." She felt stiff and odd in my arms, and I pulled away a little so that I could look at her.**

**The expression on her face chilled my blood. The teary-eyed shock had been replaced by anger.**

The Twins shared a look. They had never seen Stevie Rae angry. This dying and then undying must have really changed her.

**I wondered for an instant why her anger looked familiar – Stevie Rae rarely got pissed. And then I realized what I was recognizing. Stevie Rae looked like she had before I'd cast a circle and she'd been given back her humanity. I took a step away from her.**

Zoey smiled reassuringly when Stevie Rae looked at her. She wanted her to know that she could trust her.

"**Stevie Rae? What's wrong?"**

"**Where's my stuff?" Her voice, like her face, was just plain mean.**

Stevie Rae looked ashamed. That really wasn't a reason to become so angry or mean. It wasn't Zoey's fault.

"**Honey," I said gently. "The vamps take a fledgling's stuff away when she, uh, dies."**

**Stevie Rae turned narrowed eyes on me. "I'm not dead." Aphrodite moved so that she was standing beside me. "Hey, don't go all mental on us. The vamps think you're dead, remember?"**

Everyone thought the same thing: _Did Aphrodite just defend Zoey?_

"**But don't worry," I said quickly. "I made them give me back a bunch of your things. And I know where the rest of your stuff is. I can get it all back if you want it."**

**And just like that, the meanness vanished and I was looking at my best friend again. "Even my lamp made outta a cowboy boot?"**

Aphrodite made a disgusted noise, while the Twins started snickering. Even death couldn't change her horrible fashion sense.

"**Even that," I said, smiling at her. Hell, I'd be pissed, too, if someone had taken all my stuff.**

**Aphrodite said, "You'd think if someone died, at least their shitty non-fashion fashion sense would change. But no. Your bad taste is fucking immortal."**

"I hate to say it, but she's right," Erin muttered, while her twin nodded.

"**Aphrodite," Stevie Rae told her firmly, "you really should be nicer."**

"**And I say **_**whatever**_** to you and your countrified Mary Poppins outlook on life," Aphrodite said.**

"Actually," Damien said. "Marry Poppins was Brittish and not countrified."

Aphrodite shrugged. "Whatever."

"**Mary Poppins was Brittish. Which means she wasn't countrified." Stevie Rae said smugly. Stevie Rae sounded so much like her old self that I gave a little happy shout and threw my arms around her again. "I'm so darn glad to see you! You're really okay now, aren't you?"**

Stevie Rae smiled, while Aphrodite raised her eyebrow. Stevie Rae didn't sound okay. She sounded really weird.

"**Kinda different, but okay," Stevie Rae said, hugging me back.**

**I felt an amazing wash of relief that drowned out the kinda different part of what she'd said. I guess I was just so glad to see her, whole and herself again, that I had to hold that knowledge safe and special inside myself for a while, and that need didn't let me consider that there could be any leftover problems with Stevie Rae. Plus, I remembered something else. "Hang on," I said suddenly. "How did you guys get back on campus without the warriors going crazy?"**

"Oh, come on. This is just a House of Night, not some school with metal detectors." Stark said with a cocky smile.

"**Zoey, you really gotta start paying attention to the stuff that's going on around you," Aphrodite said. "I walked through the front gate. The alarm's down, which I imagine makes sense. I mean, I got the same notification call on my cell about winter break being over that I bet everyone else who way away from campus got. Neferet had to unzap this place or she'd go insane dealing with all the alarms the returning students would set off, not to mention the zillions of delicious Sons of Erebus who are descending on this place like yummy presents for us students."**

"**Don't you mean all the alarms would make Neferet go **_**more insane**_** than she already is?"**

_That's impossible_, Aphrodite thought.

"**Yes, Neferet is definitely batshit crazy," Aphrodite said, for an instant in complete agreement with Stevie Rae. **

"**Anyway, the alarm's gone, even for humans."**

"**Huh? Even for humans? How do you know that?" I asked. Aphrodite sighed, and with a weirdly slow motion-like movement, she brought the back of her hand up and wiped it across her forehead, causing the outline of the crescent moon to smear and partially rub off.**

"WHAT?" Aphrodite screamed and she looked outraged.

"I'm. A. Fucking. Human?"

The Twins chuckled quietly. They didn't really feel sorry for the girl.

**I gasped. "Oh, god, Aphrodite! You're…" My words sputtered out as my mouth refused to say it.**

"**Human," Aphrodite supplied for me in a flat, cold voice.**

"**How? I mean, are you sure?"**

"**I'm sure. Damn sure," she said.**

"**Uh, Aphrodite, even though you're human, you're definitely not a normal human," Stevie Rae said.**

"What is that supposed to mean?" Jack muttered and blushed when everyone turned their gazes at him.

"**What does that mean?" I asked.**

**Aphrodite shrugged. "Doesn't mean shit to me."**

**Stevie Rae sighed. "You know, you're lucky you turned into a human and not a wooden boy, 'cause with all the lying you're doin', your nose would be like a mile long."**

**Aphrodite shook her head in disgust. "Again with the bad G-rated movie analogy. I don't know why I couldn't have just died and gone to hell. At least I wouldn't be bombarded with Disney there."**

"**Would you just tell me what the hell's going on?" I said.**

"**Better explain it to her. She's almost cussing," Aphrodite said snidely.**

Zoey rolled her eyes. That was so typically Aphrodite.

"**You're so hateful. I should have eaten you when I was dead," Stevie Rae said.**

"**You should have eaten your countrified mom when you were dead," Aphrodite said, bowing up like she thought she was black. "No wonder Zoey needs a new BFF! You're totally a Pollyanna pain in the ass."**

"I don't need a new BFF," Zoey said when she saw the murderous look in Stevie Rae's eyes. She just wanted to keep reading the book.

"**Zoey does **_**not**_** need a new BFF!" Stevie Rae yelled, turning on Aphrodite and taking a step toward her. For an instant, I thought I saw her blue eyes start to flash the ugly red that illuminated them when she was undead and out of control.**

**Felling like my head was going to explode, I stepped between them. "Aphrodite, stop messing with Stevie Rae!"**

"How is this my fault?" Aphrodite sneered.

"Oh , I don't know, maybe 'cause you're a hateful hag," Shaunee said and Erin snorted.

"Well said, Twin," Erin added.

Aphrodite ignored the two girls and started reading again.

"**Then you better check your friend." Aphrodite walked to the mirror that was over my sink, grabbed a Kleenex, and started to wipe what was left of the smeared crescent from her forehead. I noticed that for all her nonchalant tone, her hands were shaking.**

**I turned back to Stevie Rae, whose eyes were once again a familiar blue.**

"**Sorry, Z," she said, smiling like a guilty kid. "I guess two days with Aphrodite has gotten on my nerves."**

"Yeah, everyone would get crazy after two days with her.." the Twins said together and snickered.

Damien and Stevie Rae couldn't help but agree. The girl was a nightmare.

**Aphrodite snorted and I looked over at her. "Just don't start again," I said.**

"**Fine, whatever." Our eyes met in the mirror, and I was almost sure I saw fear in Aphrodite's gaze. Then she went back to work fixing her face.**

Aphrodite snorted. Like she would ever be afraid of a girl who listens to country.

**Feeling utterly confused, I tried to pick up where the conversation had gotten way weird. "So, what's the deal with you saying Aphrodite isn't normal? And I don't mean her abnormally bad attitude," I hastily added.**

"**Easy-peasy," Stevie Rae said. "Aphrodite still has visions, and visions aren't normal for humans," **

Aphrodite stiffened. _No way_. The thing she hated most about being a fledgling is the thing she got to keep.

**She gave Aphrodite a **_**so there **_**look. "Go ahead. Tell Zoey."**

**Aphrodite turned from the mirror and sat on the little stool I kept close by. She ignored Stevie Rae and said, "Yeah, I still have my visions. Whoop-tee-fucking-do. The only thing I **_**didn't**_** like about being a fledgling is the only thing I get to keep now that I'm a stupid human again."**

Zoey felt sorry for Aphrodite. Those visions really sounded horrible.

**I looked more closely at Aphrodite, seeing through the **_**I'm all that**_** façade she likes to throw up. She was pale, and there were dark circles beneath the cover-up she had slathered under there. **

_Eew, I must look nasty_, Aphrodite thought.

**Yes, she definitely looked like a girl who had just gone through a bunch of crap, and some of it could be one of her draining, life-changing visions. No wonder she was being such a bitch; I was a moron not to have noticed it before then.**

"**What did you see in the vision?" I asked her. Aphrodite met my gaze with a steady one of her own and for a moment let down the steel wall of arrogance she liked to keep around her like a shield. A terrible, haunted shadow crossed her beautiful face, and her hand shook as she raised it to brush a strand of blond hair behind her ear.**

Stark also felt sorry for the girl, 'cause he knew how difficult it could be when you had a gift you didn't want.

"**I saw vampyres slaughtering humans and humans killing vampyres right back. I saw a world filled with violence and hatred and darkness. And in the darkness I saw creatures that were so horrible, I couldn't tell what they were. I – I couldn't even keep looking at them. I saw the end of everything." **

Everyone, including Aphrodite, looked scared. That wasn't the world they wanted to live in.

**Aphrodite's voice was as haunted as her face.**

"**Tell her the rest of it," Stevie Rae prompted her when Aphrodite paused, and I was surprised by the sudden gentleness in her voice. "Tell her why all of that was happening."**

**When Aphrodite spoke, I felt her words as if they had been shards of glass she'd smashed into my heart.**

"**I saw all of it happening because you were dead, Zoey. Your death made it happen."**

"Oh, crap," Zoey whispered and she became extremely pale. Does this mean that the fate of the entire world is lying in her hands?

Her friends also looked sad. They didn't want to lose their friend.

"Well… who wants to read now?" Aphrodite asked in a small voice.

"Can I?"

She nodded and gave the book to Stark, who looked very uncomfortable.

* * *

**A/N: I know, it's been a very long time since my last update and I'm so sorry!**

**But I've been having problems with my computer and I had exams.**

**So, I just want to say that I'm really sorry and that I will try to update more :)**

**Escpecially now, 'cause I have vacation. **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**'Till next time ...**

**ShadowOfTheDay818**


	5. Chapter 5

Summary: 

Takes place after Marked. Stark and Jack have recently joined the Tulsa House of Night. Together with them, the gang will read the House of Night series starting with Untamed. Will they be able to change the future?

**Disclaimer: I do not own House of Night or any of it characters.**

Chapter five (Stark reads)

'**Ah, hell,' I said and then my knees gave way and I had to sit down on my bed. My ears had an odd buzzing sound in them, and it was hard for me to breathe.**

Zoey grimaced. That would sound very scary. Especially after she just had been attacked outside.

'**You know it doesn't mean it'll come true for sure,' Stevie Rae said, patting me on the shoulder. 'I mean, Aphrodite saw your grandmamma, Heath, and even me dying. **

'What?' Zoey yelled, looking very pale. 'My grandma? Heath-?'

Stevie Rae squeezed her hand and the others looked at her with sympathy, even Aphrodite.

'Who's Heath?' Stark asked.

'My human ex-boyfriend,' Zoey answered softly.

**Well, I mean me dying a second time. And none of those things happened. So we can stop it.' She looked up at Aphrodite, 'Right?'**

**Aphrodite fidgeted uneasily. 'Ah, hell,' I said for a second time. Then I forced myself to talk around the big lump of fear that had lodged in the middle of my throat. 'There's something different about the vision you had of me, isn't there?'**

'**It could be because I'm human,' she said slowly. 'It's the only vision I've had since turning back into a human, it doesn't seem too wrong that it would feel different than the ones I had when I was a fledgling.'**

'That sounds like there's coming a "but".' Damien said.

'**But?' I prompted. **

**She shrugged and finally met my eyes. 'But it did feel different.'**

'**Like how?'**

'**Well, It felt more confusing – more emotional – more jumbled up. And I literally didn't understand some of what I saw, I mean, I didn't recognize the horrible things that were seething around in the darkness.'**

'Seething around in the darkness?' Stevie Rae repeated and she shivered.

'**Seething?' I shivered. 'That doesn't sound good.'**

'**It wasn't, I was like seeing shadows inside shadow inside darkness. It was like ghosts were turning back into living things, but the things they were turning back into were too terrible for me to look at.'**

Aphrodite sighed. She didn't like her "gift", and that vision sounded truly terrifying.

'**You mean like not human or vampyre?'**

'**Yeah, that's what I mean.'**

**Automatically I rubbed my hand, and a skittering of fear slithered through my body. 'Ah, hell.'**

'You say that a lot, don't you?' Stark said and everybody ignored him.

'**What?' Stevie Rae said.**

'**Tonight there was something that, well, kinda attacked me when I was walking from the stables to the cafeteria. It was some kind of cold shadow thing that came from the darkness.'**

'**That can't be good,' Stevie Rae said.**

'**You were alone?' Aphrodite asked, her voice sounding flintlike.**

'**Yes,' I said.**

'**Okay, that's the problem,' Aphrodite said.**

'**Why? What else did you see in your vision?'**

'**Well, you died a couple different ways, which is not something I've ever seen before.'**

'God. How many ways can one person die?' Shaunee mumbled and she shared a look with her Twin. They both were very worried for their friend, even if it was only in a book.

'**A – a couple of different ways?' It just kept getting worse and worse.**

'**Maybe we should wait awhile and see if Aphrodite has another vision that'll make things clearer before we talk about this,' Stevie Rae said, sitting next to me on the bed. I didn't look away from Aphrodite's eyes, and I saw there a reflection of what I already knew. 'When I ignore visions, they come true. Always,' Aphrodite said with finality.**

'It's true,' Aphrodite said when everyone looked at her.

'But why did you used to lie about your visions then?' Damien asked and he just sounded plain curious.

'I don't know. My parents always told me that they were my biggest strength and I just wanted to make them proud…' Aphrodite mumbled.

'Your visions are not your biggest strength, your believe in the Goddess is.' Zoey said and Aphrodite smiled.

'**I think some of it might already be happening,' I said. My lips felt cold and stiff, and my stomach hurt.**

'**You're not gonna die!' Stevie Rae cried, looking upset and totally like my best friend again.**

Stevie Rae hugged Zoey. 'I will always be your best friend,' She simply said.

**I slipped my arm through Stevie Rae's. 'Go ahead, Aphrodite. Tell me.'**

'**It was a strong vision, filled with powerful images, but it was totally confusing. Maybe because I was feeling it and seeing it from your point of view,' Aphrodite paused, swallowing hard. 'I saw you die two ways. Once you drowned. The water was cold and dark. Oh, and it smelled bad.'**

"What, like one of those Oklahoma ponds?' Zoey asked.

Stark grinned when he read the next line.

'**Smelled bad? Like one of those nasty Oklahoma ponds?'**

Everybody laughed and Zoey blushed a little bit.

**I said, curious despite the horror of talking about my own death. Aphrodite shook her head. 'No, I'm almost one hundred percent sure it wasn't in Oklahoma. There was too much water for that. It's hard to explain how I can be so sure, but it just felt too big and deep to be something like a lake.'**

'I hate water. It's so scary,' Jack said and Aphrodite and the Twin started snickering.

**Aphrodite paused again, thinking. Then her eyes widened. 'I remember another thing about the vision. There was something close by the water that looked like a **_**real**_** palace on an island all its own, which means tasteful old money, probably European, and not some tacky upper middle class version of oooh-I-have-money-let's-go-buy-an-Rv.'**

The Twins rolled their eyes and Stevie Rae squealed when Stark used his high voice to read.

'**You're seriously a snob, Aphrodite,' Stevie Rae said.**

'Well said, Stevie Rae,' Erin said and Shaunee grinned.

'**Thank you,' Aphrodite said.**

'**Okay, so you saw me drown near a real palace on a real island maybe in Europe. Did you see anything else that might be in the least bit helpful?' I asked. **

'**Well, besides the fact that you felt isolated – I mean really alone in both of the Visions, I saw a guy's face. He was with you not long before you died. Someone I've never seen before. At least not till today.'**

'**What? Who?'**

'**I saw that Stark kid.'**

Stark froze, while Zoey just stared at him. There was something wrong with him, but she just didn't know what.

'**He killed me?' I felt like I was going to throw up.**

Stark started shaking his head and the others looked worried. 'I swear I wouldn't…' Stark whispered.

'I know.'

He sighed relieved when he heard Zoey.

'**Who's Stark?' Stevie Rae asked, taking hold of my hand.**

'**New kind who just transferred here today from the Chicago House of Night,' I said. 'He killed me?' I repeated the question to Aphrodite.**

'**I don't think so. I didn't get a good look at him, and it was dark. But it seemed like, even in the last glimpse you had of him, that you felt safe with him.' She raised her brow at me. 'Looks like you'll get over that whole Erik/Heath/Loren mess.'**

Stark flashed Zoey a cocky smile, but he still looked very uncomfortable. Still, he liked the fact that she felt safe with him.

'**I'm sorry 'bout all of that. Aphrodite told me what happened,' Stevie Rae said.**

**I opened my mouth to say thanks to Stevie Rae, and then I realized that she and Aphrodite didn't know the depth of the Erik/Heath/Loren mess. I took a deep breath. I'd almost rather hear about my deaths than talk about this.**

'**Loren's dead,' I blurted.**

'Well, if that won't shock them than I don't know what will,' Damien said.

'**What?'**

'**How?'**

**I looked up at Aphrodite. 'Two days ago. It was like Professor Nolan. Loren was beheaded and crucified and nailed to the front gate of the school. With a note that quoted some terrible Bible verse about him being detestable staked through his heart.' **

Jack looked very green when he heard this and the others looked mortified.

'That's disgusting,' Stark said after an uncomfortable silence.

'Who would do such a thing?' Jack asked quietly, not really wanting an answer.

**I spoke very fast, wanting to get the taste of this terrible words out of my mouth.**

'**Oh no!' Aphrodite turned a yucky shade of white and sat down heavily on Stevie Rae's old bed.**

'**Zoey, that's so awful,' Stevie Rae said. I could hear the tears in her voice as she put her arm around me. 'Y'all were like Romeo and Juliet.'**

'**No!' Then because the word had come out more sharply than I'd intended, I turned to Stevie Rae and smiled. 'No,' I repeated in a saner voice. 'He never loved me. Loren used me.'**

'Oh. What a jerk,' Stark said and he sounded rather mad. Zoey just shrugged and acted like she didn't care, but in reality she felt like she had to puke.

'**For sex? Ah, Z, that's crappy,' Stevie Rae said.**

'**Sadly, no, even though I did utterly mess up and have sex with him. Loren was using me for Neferet. She told him to come on to me. She was his real lover.'**

'Zoey, I'm so sorry for you,' Damien said sweetly and she smiled at him.

'Oh, hell no.' Shaunee said angrily.

'What a stupid cow,' Erin added.

**I grimaced, remembering the heart-ripping scene I'd witnessed between Loren and Neferet. They'd been laughing about me. I'd given Loren my heart and my body and, through our Imprint, a piece of my soul. And he'd laughed at me.**

'Imprint? What's that?' Jack asked curiously.

'That's a bond between a vampyre and a human or a fledgling who drank each other's blood,' Damien said.

'Oh. Thanks.' Jack said.

Zoey felt disgusted. How could she ever share blood with that jerk?

'**Hang on. Go back. You said Neferet had Loren come on to you?' Aphrodite said. 'Why would she do that if they were lovers?'**

'**Neferet wanted to get me alone.' My heart froze as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together.**

'**Huh? That doesn't make sense. Why would Loren acting like he was your boyfriend get you alone?' Stevie Rae asked.**

'**Simple,' Aphrodite said. 'Zoey had to sneak around to see Loren, being as he was a professor and all. My guess is she didn't tell any of the nerd herd she was playing bad little schoolgirl with Professor Blake. My guess is also that Neferet had something major to do with our boy Erik finding out Zoey was doing the dirty with someone who was definitely not him.'**

'oh, that even makes it more horrible,' Aphrodite said and she actually sounded really nice.

'**Uh, I'm right here. You don't have to talk about me like I left the room.'**

**Aphrodite snorted. 'If my guesses are right, I'd say your good sense left the room.'**

'**Your guesses are right,' I admitted reluctantly. 'Neferet made sure Erik walked in on me being with Loren.'**

'Bitch,' Aphrodite muttered and Zoey thanked her with her eyes.

'**Damn! No wonder he acted so pissed,' Aphrodite said.**

'**What? When?' Stevie Rae said.**

**I sighed. 'Erik caught me with Loren. He freaked. Then I found out that Loren was really with Neferet and he didn't care about me at all, even though we'd imprinted.'**

'**Imprinted! Shit!' Aphrodite said.**

'**So then I freaked.' I ignored Aphrodite. It was already awful enough. I definitely didn't want to dwell on the details.**

'**I was bawling when Aphrodite, the Twins, Damien, Jack and—'**

'**Oh, shit, and Erik. That's when we found you crying under the tree,' Aphrodite interrupted.**

**I sighed again, realizing I couldn't ignore her. 'Yeah. And Erik announced the news about Loren Lore and me to everyone.'**

'**In what I would call a very mean way,' Aphrodite said.**

'That doesn't sound like Erik at all,' Stevie Rae said.

'You would be surprised how possessive and mean he can be,' Aphrodite answered.

'**Dang,' Stevie Rae said. 'It must have been really**_** hateful**_** for Aphrodite to say it was mean.'**

'**It was. Hateful enough for her friends to feel like her sleeping around with Loren had been a slap in the face to them. So follow Erik's "Zoey's a slut" bomb with the "Zoey's been keeping Stevie Rae's undeadness a secret, too" bomb, and you have a gaggle of totally pissed nerds who won't want to trust Zoey again.'**

'Okay, I totally understand we're like disappointed in you,' Erin said.

'But that's totally no reason to act like that,' Shaunee finished and Damien agreed.

Zoey just shrugged.

'**Which means then Zoey is alone, just exactly as Neferet planned,' I finished for her, finding it disturbing that it was so easy to fall into talking about myself in the third person.**

'**That's the second death I saw for you,' Aphrodite said. 'You're completely alone. There's no last glimpse of a cute boy and no nerd herd. Your isolation is the overriding image I got from the second vision.'**

'So you think I'm cute?' Stark asked Aphrodite grinning.

'Ugh, absolutely not. I was talking about cute boys in general.' Aphrodite answered while she rolled her eyes.

'**What kills me?'**

'**Well, that's when it gets confusing again. I get an image of Neferet as a threat to you, but the vision gets jumbled up all weird when you're actually attacked. I know this is going to sound bizarre, but at the last moment I saw something black floating around you.'**

_Creepy_, Stevie Rae thought and she shivered again.

'**Like a ghost or something?' I swallowed hard.**

'**No. Not really. If Neferet's hair was black, I'd say it was her hair blowing around you in a big wind, like she's standing behind you. You're alone and you're really, really scared. You try to call for help, but no one answers you and you're so terrified you freeze and you don't fight back. She, or whatever it is, reaches around and somehow, using something dark and hooked, slashes your throat. It is so sharp, it cuts through you neck and severs your head from your shoulders.' Aphrodite shuddered and then added, 'Which, in case you're wondering, bleeds. A lot.'**

Zoey now really felt like she had to puke.

'Ohmygod!' Stevie Rae yelled.

'Eew, that's so nasty,' Aphrodite muttered and she felt weird when she noticed that she was actually worried about Zoey.

'**Gross, Aphrodite! Did ya have to go into detail?' Stevie Rae said, putting her arm back around me.**

'**No, it's okay,' I said quickly. 'Aphrodite has to give all the details she can remember – like she did when she saw visions of the deaths of you and Grandma and Heath. It's the only way we can figure out how to change things. So, what else did you see about my second death?' I asked Aphrodite.**

'**Just that you call for help, but nothing happens. Everyone ignores you,' Aphrodite said.**

'That's so terrible,' Damien said and then he whispered: 'We will always be there for you,'

'**I was scared today when whatever it was came at me out of the night. So scared that for a second I just froze and didn't know what to do,' I said, feeling shaky just remembering.**

'**Could Neferet have had something to do with whatever happened to you earlier?' Stevie Rae asked.**

**I shrugged. 'I don't know. There was nothing for me to see but some creepy darkness.'**

'**Creepy darkness is what I saw, too. As much as I hate to say it, you've got to make sure the nerd herd isn't pissed off at you anymore, because you being friendless is not a good thing,' Aphrodite said.**

'That would have been nice if you didn't call my friends "the nerd herd".' Zoey said and Aphrodite just smiled innocently.

'**Easier said than done,' I said.**

'**I don't see why,' Stevie Rae said. 'Just tell them the truth about Neferet being behind Loren and you, and tell them that you couldn't say anything about me being undead when I was dead because Neferet would …' Stevie Rae's words trailed off as she realized what she was saying.**

'**Yeah, that's brilliant. Tell them that Neferet is an evil bitch who's behind making a bunch of undead dead kids and the first time any of the nerd herd members get within the distance of a thought of Neferet, all shit will break loose. Which means our evil bitch of a High Priestess will not only know what we know, but she'll probably do something majorly nasty to your little buddies.' Aphrodite paused and tapped her chin.**

_Not a bad idea actually_, Aphrodite thought, but she didn't really mean it. She didn't like them, but she also didn't want them to get hurt.

'**Hum, on second thought, some of that scenario doesn't sound too bad.'**

The Twins glared at Aphrodite, while Damien just sighed.

'**Hey,' Stevie Rae said. 'Damien and the Twins and Jack already know something that is going to get them in major trouble with Neferet. They know about me.'**

'**Ah, hell,' I said.**

'**Well, shit,' Aphrodite said. 'I totally forgot about the "Stevie Rae isn't dead" detail. Wonder why Neferet hasn't plucked that out of one of your friends' wee little brains and freaked about that already?'**

'little brains?' Shaunee asked surprised. 'Damien is like thousand times smarter than you,' she said and Damien blushed slightly.

'**She's been too busy plotting war,' I said. When Aphrodite and Stevie Rae blinked in confusion at me, I realized that Loren wasn't the only news they hadn't heard. 'When Neferet was told about Loren's murder, she declared war against humans. Not an outright war, of course. She wants it to be a nasty, terrorist-style guerrilla war. God, she's so slimy. I just don't get why everyone can't see it.'**

'War against the humans?' Damien said and he frowned. That was so unlike a high-priestess. But of course, they already knew that Neferet was evil.

'**Blood and guts with the humans? Huh. That's interesting. Guess the build-up of the Sons of Erebus is supposed to be our weapon of mass destruction,' Aphrodite said. 'Yum, talk about a silver lining to a shitty situation.'**

'You can't even be serious in a situation like this.'

Zoey agreed with Stevie Rae.

'**How can you be so whatever about this situation?' Stevie Rae said, exploding off the bed.**

'**First of all, I really don't like humans much.' Aphrodite put up a hand to stop Stevie Rae's tirade. **

'That's so hypocrite of you, Aphrodite,' Damien said and she glared at him.

'**Okay, yeah, I know that I **_**am**_** a human now. Which make me say **_**ugh**_**. Second, Zoey's alive and well, so I'm not particularly worried about this scary little war.'**

'**What in the hell are you talking about, Aphrodite?' I said.**

**Aphrodite rolled her eyes. 'Would you please keep up with me? Hello – it makes perfect sense now. My vision was all about war between humans and vamps and some creepy booger- monster things. Actually, they're probably what attacked you and could very well be minions of Neferet we don't know about.' She paused, looking temporarily confused, and then shrugged and continued, 'But, whatever. Hopefully we won't have to find out what they are, because the war only happened **_**after**_** you'd been killed. Tragically and grotesquely, I might add. Anyway, I figure we keep you alive, we keep the war from happening.'**

**Stevie Rae let out a big, long breath. 'You have a point Aphrodite,' She turned to me. 'We gotta keep you alive, Zoey. Not just 'cause we love you more than white bread, but 'cause you have to save the world.'**

'I have to save the world?'

_I'm just a girl of sixteen. How the hell am I supposed to save the world?_ Zoey thought.

'**Oh, great. I'm supposed to save the world?' All I could thinks was, **_**And I used to stress about geometry.**_

**Ah, hell.**

'Well, that was… interesting,' Stark said, breaking the silence.

He held the book in front of him and asked silently who wanted to read next.

Shaunee just took the book without saying anything and started reading.

**A/N: Okay. I know it's been a while , yet **_**again**_** and I'm very sorry about that.**

**So, I won't promise again that I will update soon, but I will try.**

**Everything has just been really crazy and I haven't really had the time to finish this chapter.**

**But here it is and I hope you enjoy it!**

**Btw, I found this amazing group: Secondhand Serenade. Their music is really good. **** I love the songs "It's not over" and "Fall for you".**

'**Till next time…**

**ShadowOfTheDay818**


	6. AN

My dear friends,

I dare say that I will start writing again and I will try to finish this story as soon as possible.

I know that I've made a lot of promises before, but I have to admit that everything's been crazy lately in my life.

I have also recently moved to a bigger house and I'm happy that I'm finally free from that shithole where we used to live before.

So, it's finally vacation, I just finished the Vampire Academy series ( ), I had good grades and I'm again enthusiastic about writing. :D

I'm sorry that it was only a A/N, but the next chapter will come soon.

'Till next time …

ShadowOfTheDay818 aka Isa


End file.
